History of Blind People in World

• The history of the blind is difficult to chart. There are few examples before the 19th century of
sustained organized efforts by the blind to act in concert to achieve collective goals, and prior to the
18th century the history of the blind is atomistic, consisting of stories of protagonists in religious
and secular stories who weave in and out of popular consciousness serve as object lessons, or provide
inspiration to the sighted.

• What is left to the historian is a collection of biographies of “extraordinary” individuals,

from Homer to Helen Keller, Louis Braille to Jorge Luis Borges, which provides little in the way
of a narrative thread that one can pull together to create a tapestry of blind history. 

• India projects a higher number of blind people at international forums because of its definition. India
currently has around 12 million blind people against 39 million globally -- which makes India home
to one-third of the world’s blind population.
 Famous Blind People In India

• George Abraham (cricketer)

• C. A. Ansar
• Srikanth Bolla
• Tiffany Brar
• Muktaben Pankajkumar Dagli
• Panchakshara Gawai
• Janki Goud
• Ashish Goyal
• Sadhan Gupta
• J. L. Kaul
• Akbar Khan (disability activist)
 Common Problems Faced by Blind Peoples

• Withdrawing Money From An ATM Can Be Really Time-Consuming

• Handling Cash Is An Entirely Different Concern
• Taking The Stickers Off Produce Is A Chore
• Getting Around A City Requires Hard-Coded Memory
• It's Challenging To Determine How Much Liquid Is In A Glass
• Defining Color
• Opening Heavily Wrapped Products
• Braille Illiteracy Is Growing Due To A Lack Of Infrastructure
• Navigating New Environments Is Extremely Difficult
 Common Problems Faced by Blind Peoples

• Falls are particularly serious among the elderly and disabled where the number of individuals
with fall-induced injury has been steadily increasing.
• According to the World Health Organization, as of 2010, over 285 million people in the world are
visually challenged, of whom 39 million are blind and 246 million have moderate to severe visual
impairment
• Visually challenged individuals largely use white canes to aid their mobility.
• The white cane is a very rudimentary device which provides information about ground-level
obstacles to the user.
• However, it is ineffective at detecting obstacles that are above waist height but do not touch the
Ground, such as tree branches or fences sticking out in the path.
• One of the simplest way to avoid this is replace this White cane with smart cane.
 Advantage & Disadvantage of White cane

• Choosing a white cane means understanding the advantages and disadvantages of each type of cane.
White canes come in three forms; straight, folding or telescoping .
 Advantage & Disadvantage of White cane

A. I. Straight cane - Advantages:

**Fiberglass or carbon graphite canes.
A. best type of cane for visually impaired individuals (first time users) learning to travel for both children and
adults
B. Provides the most information/feedback of upcoming surface to a visually impaired traveler
C. Best cane for traveling long distances because cane is Durable yet lightweight
D. Uses metal tip – the cheapest form of cane tip

I. Straight cane – Disadvantages:

A. Difficult cane to use when traveling – examples; using cane in a crowded restaurant, placing cane into a car.
Taxicab or airplane – unable to fold and put away
B. Cane inflexible making the cane susceptible to snapping or cracking
C. Uses metal tip that can be difficult for some individuals to replace – Note: A straight cane has a screw inserted
into the end of the cane that requires a person to slip a stiff rubber material encased by metal over the head of the
screw requiring considerable strength for a proper fit.
 Advantage & Disadvantage of White cane
II. Folding cane – Advantages:
**Fiberglass, carbon graphite and aluminum canes
A. Best cane for active person – easier to use when entering or exiting buildings such as a restaurant, cabs or
airplanes – easy to put away by folding
B. Cane works great for short travel distances
C. Durable sturdy and long lasting cane – elastic cord running through cane not easy to break
D. Cane tip available in different shapes made from hard plastic that last longer than metal tips.

II. Folding cane – Disadvantages:

A. Construction of cane uses more material resulting in a heavier cane that can cause problems for people with wrist,
arm, shoulder or back issues. Cane tip is also heavier.
B. Folding process of cane takes practice and wrapping elastic cord around the folded cane requires hand strength.
C. Folded cane requires large area for storing or large bag for carrying while folded.
D. Cane tip although longer lasting is more expensive and requires effort to replace when connecting tip to elastic
cord running through the length of cane.
 Advantage & Disadvantage of White cane

• III. Telescoping cane – Advantages:

A. Perfect for active traveler – easy to collapse and folds up into short length and easily placed into a backpack or
hooked to belt. Very easy to put away before entering a cab or sitting down to a meal.
B. The lightweight carbon graphite material causes less stress or strain for person with wrist, arm, shoulder or
back issues.
C. Cane is easy to fold up – simply tap the cane while holding the top pushing down until the cane slides into one
section and pop the rubber plug into place securing the cane.
]D. Provides good feedback to person concerning upcoming surface and uses the cheaper metal tip.

III. Telescoping Cane – Disadvantages:

A. Lightweight material with hollow sections makes the cane susceptible to cracking or breaking.
B. Replacing the metal tip is more difficult because securing the tip requires tapping the cane, which is also the
way the cane collapses. The tip fits over the head of a screw placed into the end of the cane with pressure applied
to secure the tip.
C. After continued use, the rubber plug on the cane becomes less effective at securing the cane in the folded up
position.
 The proposed device can detect obstacles as well as terrain changes in the user’s path.
 A conventional walking cane forms the main frame of the device, upon which ultrasonic sensors are
mounted at appropriate locations to detect obstacles, steps and pits in the path of the user. It will also
detect the fire.
 Additionally, a provision to indicate the presence of puddles and slippery surfaces in the user’s path has
also been included in the device.
 The presence of obstacle is feed backed through vibration motor present at the hand support.
 The overall design of the device ensures accuracy, energy efficiency and easy portability.
Advantage & Disadvantage of White cane

EXISTING SYSTEMS

Fig(a):Existing System Architecture

 DISADVANTGES OF EXISITING SYSTEM

 In a practical setting, it can only be used to detect obstacles up to knee-level. Hence, potentially
hazardous obstacles like protruding windowpanes, raised platforms and horizontal bars go
undetected.
 The detection range of the cane is restricted to about 0.5m from the user. Efficiency of output is
less.
 Certain obstacles (e.g. a moving vehicle) cannot be detected till they are dangerously close to the
person.
PROPOSED SYSTEM

Fig (a) : Circuit Diagram

 PROPOSED SYSTEM

 This System will give an accurate, energy efficient and portable smart walking cane
 It avoids limitations of the existing prototypes
 The obstacle detection module covers a wide field of vision by employing three ultrasonic
sensors
 When an obstacle is detected, the information is conveyed to the user through tactile feedback by
means of vibration motors
 The smart cane can also detect changes in terrain
 Focuses on the security
OBJECTIVES AND ADVANTAGES OF PROPOSED SYSTEM

• OBJECTIVES OF PROPOSED SYSTEM –

 To reduce the insecurity from traditional white canes.
 To increase efficiency of accurate output for obstacle detection.
• ADVANTAGES OF PROPOSED SYSTEM –
 It is an accurate, energy efficient and portable.
 The obstacle detection module covers a wide field of vision by employing three
ultrasonic sensors, thus making navigation easier.
 The smart cane can also detect changes in terrain, such as steps or elevations in front of
the user, presence of water, and potholes, fire and other depressions in the ground,
 HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT
• HARDWARE REQUIREMENT
 Sensors: Ultrasonic, Water, Depth, Fire
 Audio Module

 Vibration Motors
 Batteries
 Atmega Microcontroller
 Wires
 Stick(cane)

• SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT
Atmel Studio
 Arduino Uno

The Arduino Nano is a small, complete, and breadboard-friendly board

based on the ATmega328 (Arduino Nano 3. x). It has more or less the
same functionality of the Arduino Duemilanove, but in a different
package. It lacks only a DC power jack, and works with a Mini-B USB
cable instead of a standard one.

Fig.1.Arduino Nano

 Ultrasonic Sensor
Ultrasonic sensors have been used due to their high precision within a
shorter distance and resistance to external disturbances such as vibration
and electromagnetic interference

Fig.2. Ultrasonic Sensor

 Water Sensor

A water level sensor has been used to detect puddles in the user’s
path.

Fig 3.Water sensor

 Vibration Motors

Three vibration motors have been attached to the hand rest of the
walking cane to provide tactile feedback to the user when an
obstacle is detected by the three ultrasonic sensors.

Fig.4.Servo Motor
 Fire Sensor

Fire sensor module is used to detect fire and provide HIGH signal upon

the detection.

Fig.5. Fire Sensor

 Buzzer
A "piezo buzzer" is basically a tiny speaker that you can connect
directly to an Arduino. 

Fig.6.Buzzer
Result
 CONCLUSION
A Barrier Detection Guidance System through Sensors walking cane for visually
challenged individuals that can detect obstacles as well as changes in terrain in the
user’s path was presented. Multiple ultrasonic sensors were used for obstacle
detection in the path of the user, providing a wide field of vision. A depth sensor, step
sensor and a water sensor fitted at the base of the walking cane indicate changes in
terrain. Feedback for obstacle detection is haptic in nature, given through servo
motors, however, there is considerable scope for improvement and addition of
features to this device. The ability to distinguish between moving and stationary
objects can be added. Barrier Detection Guidance System through Sensors cane can
also be interfaced with the user’s smartphone to integrate the distress signal feature
and to introduce navigation from one location to another, which can be enhanced
using online resources.
 REFERENCES
1. “Demonstration of Active Guidance with SmartCane.” Lawrence K. Au, Winston H. Wu, Maxim A.
Batalin, Thanos Stathopoulos, William J. Kaiser.University of California, Los Angeles.ASCENT Lab,
Electrical Engineering Department

2. “Design and Construction of Electronic Aid for Visually Impaired People.” Kailas Patil, Member,
IEEE, Qaidjohar Jawadwala, and Felix Che Shu 

3.”Smart Walking Cane for the Visually Challenged.” Sharada Murali, Shrivatsan R., Sreenivas
V.,Srihaarika Vijjappu,, Joseph Gladwin S., Rajavel R. Student member, IEEE, UG Students,
Senior Member, IEEE, Faculty ECE , Department of ECE, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, India.